we are a movement a purpose we exist to empower those who strive for more we grew Our Roots in Baltimore Baltimore is an amazing City that attitude of that City it is under Baltimore's home man you know we love this city we got grit we're dripping in it it's one of the great entrepreneurial stories phenomenon company is expanding its brand the OG oh always takes hits we sto but we protect it and we go it's US versus them cuz our drive to make athletes better is what fuel does first handshake they have with the under be a digital handshake completely revolutionary in the history of collegate sport and it wasn't just at home it was a march across the planet a movement Rising Star globally Global BR International you're killing it we celebrate our victories but you know what we've got some scars from our journey too she is down Tom Brady's on the down side of his career but the great they get back up reflect on defeat change their angle reset the clock and draw up a new play the Le make no mistake wandor is a growth company we love everything that we're getting ready to get into everything's about getting better announcing the launch of the curry brand we empower with those who strive for more and that goes beyond the field I'm ready to use my voice to speak up in this moment in history Under Armour is working to help fight the Corona virus place for Baltimore you spark a nice big movement you get to represent it together we are building a platform that changes [Music] lives stops and hits Kelsey pum our story is the stuff of Legends and it's only just G so as I mentioned like this course is on mindset we sort of cover your background your business and your mindset um we're all just getting back from Spring Break um you had a very eventful week last week Kev that you may not have caught as we were doing the flyer and telling people about this your title changed can you tell us what changed last week what catalyzed that change and what you as the CEO see going forward yeah well first maybe you guys can just help me with some context too I know it's a it's a mix between business students and um science students as well but but what is um how many entrepreneurs in the room or wanting to be entrepreneurs there you go open to it entrepreneurs yeah everybody has the idea for it because it is great and I hopefully it's part of what I was the dream that I had when I was around your ages as well um was you know the chance to work for yourself more importantly um it was to to fulfill whatever that Vision was that you came to and and I guess I want to sort of demystify some of what it means to be an entrepreneur is that there's no moment there's no like Clarity there's no that one thing where the idea is crystallized there's no I want to go ahead and build a a global you know athletic brand to compete with the bigs the podiums uh is what I always consider UA it's like that Nike aie Under Armour Lulu is now there of course and there's other ones that are trying to get there Puma is is sort of on that level like that's the one thing that's my job to protect um and I've been doing it a long time so this is 27 heading into 28 years of UA we've now had 19 of those years of public company so I've seen like a lot of up a lot some down um Topsy Turvy good but the news that um Professor blaska was speaking about is uh I actually I I I started the company obviously um took it public in 2005 uh at the end of 2019 I stepped down from being CEO uh we had a professional CEO and then we had a change of CEOs uh and then we had another professional CEO in and the company that I'd founded um that you know was on a trajectory of growth for instance from 2010 to 2 end of 2016 we had 26 consecutive quarters of 20 plus% both top and bottom line growth so you may hear about that intact and that's typically because they have contracts with government and other things but in our business it's tough and we're still trying to crack the code on what is our Amazon Prime which means recurring Revenue which is the most beautiful thing in business but in our business unfortunately every single year December 31st 11:59 it clicks over and our Revenue base basically goes to zero and we start over and then we're back to trying to compel or convince a young person like yourselves to either go on your phone or get off your couch drive to a mall walk into a store look at a wall with 15 other brands the shoe brands and then decide to pick us like the way to do that is really tough so being excellent or being great um and and I I'll speak from a lens of a as an entrepreneur but I'm also going to speak from a lens as brand because what DA's referring to is I I last week I was named again the CEO of our company which isn't like a sign of wow things must be great congratulations Kev um it was much more of our company's not delivering at the way that I wanted it to um we're we're we're fractured of where we've been at some of our peaks in in terms of value um and most importantly I think hearts and minds of there's a lot of young people in here and I'm I'm pulling the audience because we're real time trying to decide like what's the market for a Caitlyn Clark because you can you know we we just signed a a great young basketball player out of um South Carolina and JuJu is is like one of the ones we have on the list too but you're talking about like different Market values of like tens of thousands hundred thousand to like millions and millions of dollars you're wondering is one athlete that much more valued than another and it's a constant left brain right brain you know half of it's perfect half of it's not good we just can't figure out which one is which one is which um but in doing that um yeah I I assume the title of CEO which is like unfortunately it's not big enough news um because the brand of Under Armor that you see in here is like part of a long history that we have and make no mistake like um we're brand to be considered um and just so for your reference of how like our size or scale is today Under Armour is a uh it's it's just under six billion dollar business uh we've got about 177,000 employees around the world 40 offices we do business in 100 countries uh we have 1,800 retail stores around the world um and the way that I'm approaching sort of this next chapter for us which is like coming here my daughter was asking and saying you know Dad you get nervous when you have to talk and you know I I do like all of us but today it just feels so natural and organic to be able to talk about something that I love so much so I'm pinching myself I'm approaching this as an entrepreneurial startup that I get the chance to be able to do um and the only thing that's different is that you know we're a really healthy company we got about a billion one of cash on our balance sheet so that gives us and puts us in a position to say we can make some bets but um we didn't come here to compete with um sort of the second tier of the non- podiums and it's no disrespect to um you know some of the run Brands Munos or Brooks or as6 and they're good quality but um there's really good ones Hoka and on that are coming up in our industry and then there's the other Podium Brands you know Nike ATI underr so we want to be out there we want to be competing and yes we want to sign the Trojans at some point too so Jen Cohen is in my on my call list and somebody who gets a big package for me whenever she'll accept it at the University will let her too it's it's such a you know it's a big change for the company the big change that has impacts on people first of all thank you for keeping this date you've got a lot on your plate that's a there's a lot happening in your world and so thank you for sticking with us and coming out I know you got to see your son which is awesome you better keep your head on a swivel we're going to bring you up here later James so James get away I young um so thank you for being here um what catalyzed that for you I mean you're you're executive chairman obviously a major shareholder the founder still control the board I assume and so you have to have a discussion with your board and say I did you feel like you left prematurely because in the Arc of of a Founder story particularly in Tech there'll be like the founder got it from A to B 0 to one you know you took it from 0 to 10 as opposed to 0 to one in a tech story and then at some point they might say we want Professional Management whatever that you know whatever that may mean and you can hire professional management and they they may have a set of skills that maybe the founder doesn't have particularly in Tech when you've got younger people that haven't had the experience but they're not the founder they're never going to be the founder they're never going to bleed the brand the DNA of it so what was it in your mind that catalyzed that for you to make the change yeah um it's it's maybe a little first of all the the the predecessors that I had they they're two of them or or or there's there's there's two of them really good professionals you know that came from big companies had done it before and you know as Professor Basco says you know was it too soon or too early to sort of pass the keys but you know when you're when you're a startup you sort of go through these these different channels it's like you know there's there's like startup business small business local business um Regional business National Business Global business and that whole way you're tracking and you're going all right we want to get you know we want to get to 100 Grand in Revenue our first year we did 177,000 in Revenue right then it was was like the next year we did 110,000 you're like right we want to get to 100 Grand then we want to get to 500 then you want to get to a million you're putting all these sort of benchmarks out there and you always want to be careful to rate your business of like success is just in terms of dollars but it it is it's a way to count it I used to I used to count it in terms of like people or headcount and and like what would the impact we were having and you'd want to think about that way but you were you know I want to get the thing to you know to a million to 10 to to 100 million um and we were able to see that that growth and I never really had an end in mind I I never started under arour and again hopefully at the very least I'm talking to at least one entrepreneur today um that I'll be able to impact and I'll give you my story but I started it in is 23 years old in a little Row House in Georgetown Washington DC and I watched the business the first five years We Grew From You Know 177,000 110,000 400,000 1.3 million then to $5 million so our first five years took us to grow from0 to $5 million the next five years we grew from 5 million to just under 300 million in Revenue that was the year we went public in 2005 the next 5 years uh We Grew From just under $300 million uh to crossing a billion dollars in 2010 and then the next six years we went from $1 billion to5 billion and so look it they're they're big numbers but when you see that or feel that um I never really had the sense and I always thought about getting to you know 5 billion and that would be that would be a great number um but it it it wasn't like a number and there was a moment in time where um business got tough you know the time I'm talking about is 2010 and 2016 we had all that growth 26 quarters 6 and a half years of like yep Wall Street and you're getting on an earnings call four times a year and you're going yep we we just grew 24% again we just grew 28% again and with all of that you know it it it had us on this trajectory of of growth or success um and then we found out in our industry because it's really hard because frankly our job is playing to the affections of what I'm lucky enough to have two in my household a 20-year-old son a 17-year-old daughter like everybody in this room and do you know how difficult finding your affections are or how quickly they change or how you'll move from one brand to another and so banking on that or being able to play to that um you have to be great you have to be a little paranoid and I I want to talk about that tonight too but you have to be thinking about um where is the next Lululemon Vari Alo we got them I mean yell out the other brands Aviator Nation like we we see these other ones that have impacted and you look back and you're like how did you miss that how did you not make that but some way somehow you know you do and all you can do is be your best self dust yourself off go back and think about the principles like the foundation of what makes you a company and that's your team it always starts with your people but it starts with Mission Vision Values purpose empowering those who strive for more you know Mission make all athletes better Vision provides you with performance solutions you never knew you needed and then once you've tried them wonder how you ever lived without it it's the product that you're going man that thing is awesome you know it's uh under aror is the what's a do brand like we're meant to be that that special sauce that is a a product that when you you look at it what makes it UA is not a big you know sort of honk in UA logo on the left chest um which many of you may see from us sometimes um but it should be wow that's a beautiful that's a beautiful top what is it it's Under Armour oh wow it's Under Armour what's it do oh it's got stretch it's got give it Wicks moisture keeps you light this thing will keep you you know dry in a rainstorm building out that kind of um presence uh is something that we've been you know key on doing throughout our growth and sometimes you um it can be hard and you can lose the plot I feel like we've as a brand had lost the plot um and so the idea isn't I'm not coming in with a white hat it's not like there's a a rooms of people that are saying congratulations the great news is that is that our team is doing that which is what matters most um and I feel like I've got an extraordinary opportunity I'm incredibly thrilled um to be given this from our board and our board is not a puppet board that I'm pushing on or coming our our lead director is a gentleman named uh Dr Muhammad L Aran um who is the uh he's the the the uh Chief investment officer of of um uh Alliance uh he was the CEO of co-ceo with Bill gross of Pimco for forever um managing about two trillion in assets so uh very serious in a very serious board across the other seven directors we have too but um this is an opportunity and frankly I want to make sure I'm being respectful and saying thank you to uh the people that have gotten us here but um you know we're we're a little we're kind of pissed you know we we when when um 2019 we you know we we we had a stock price in the 20s and we've seen it as low as in the fives and those are hard things to sort of stomach um as you watch that and so um first of all I'm a fiduciary for our shareholders we want to do a great job for them but the way to do it isn't focusing on the stock price it's focusing on building excellent products and making sure that when you say wow what a cool top what's it do we've got an answer which is something that nobody else had thought of and and frankly it's a solution that you never knew existed and now that you do you're wondering man I want that from UA so hopefully we can drive and build some of that thank you for like the great overview and summary of where you are and sort of where you want to go why you why you came back to this role uh you never left the company but being the CEO was a different set of responsibilities I love that you traced it from $117,000 to 5 billion uh we're going to go backwards just because it's just more relatable to talk as a a young person and start there and then they're going to jump in with some questions so let's let's go back to just where you grew up cuz it's an important part of your story um what size family and what did your parents do for work yeah um I was really fortunate I was the youngest of five boys um in my household so it was like get to dinner quick or there wouldn't be food left um uh my dad was in in real estate uh my mom was a a working mom she was the uh actually the mayor of my town uh she was elected the year I was born uh in 1972 she was there until 1983 um when then she went and um uh joined the the Reagan Administration at the time went to work at the state department uh was there for another 11 or 12 years as the Director of intergovernmental Affairs in liaison was state and local government officials she was the first mayor of the um you know chapter of the the the CI is like the she was the she has five or six different firsts that she was um really super strong you know beautiful person who passed away about a year ago and one of those things that realiz is that um life does keep moving but um one of the biggest influences in my life for sure uh and then my my dad was a you know he was a character he was more like a tennis player so he was like one of those real estate guys and I'm not sure how he he made money but I know that at the end my mom was responsible for my my my mom was responsible for keeping the banks off of our back from uh I mean real estate developers like their feasts are famine so they live really well and um he did that a few times but uh he died he died early he died when I was 19 years old um of multiple Myoma and so it was U um you know a great lesson for me but I I I I had a great rais in a a great house um you know middle class simple but went to Catholic schools um grew up and was an athlete uh a football player never liked the way that my um and I I I I wanted to play Big Time ball that's all I focus on and all I ever thought about so that was sort of like the roots and founding into grade school high school High School prep school um and then College youngest of five tells that you probably are competing with your brothers at all time and they might be you know have a size advantage on you and all that stuff so it probably tells you you're pretty gritty early hustles early indications have you ever been hung have you ever been hung by your underwear on a latch as a young kid and had that been called babysitting before that's what being the youngest of five is really like like yeah yeah yeah you're going to you're going to keep up uh early hustles early indications that you like being an entrepreneur did you have any jobs as a kid did you hustle yeah I I I'm a big believer that um you know you're not born as an entrepreneur you you've got to practice it so people here are thinking that they want to do it um I was lucky it always really came organically to me is that I wanted to do it in part because um I didn't have an allowance it was like you were the youngest my parents did travel a lot so you're sort of left to fend for yourself uh and we never bought anything we never bought bread that didn't have a big orange sticker that said half off I never knew it with GIF or Skippy or any of those kind of things like we were store brands and things like that so if you wanted anything you had to earn it yourself so um when it snowed outside growing up just outside of Washington DC you know jump out of bed um get up in the morning um uh you know it wasn't sleep in it was like I'm going to go shovel snow um every summer I had KP Clean Cut Lawn Services uh I had seven Lawns that were anywhere from $15 to 30 bucks that I would cut uh which was great in the beginning of the summer but then when it would go into football season you're trying to figure out how to you know come home from go to school till 3:00 practice at 3:30 come home and cut lawns until you know from 6:00 to 7:30 or 8 that's when it becomes sort of a a long difficult t did but um hustled lemonade stands mowing lawns so you had it early in you that you want you know when you come from a family that doesn't have a ton and you're the youngest of five you got to sort of go out and and hustle so uh similar back I'm youngest of five not all five boys though and lost my parents yeah so like you just always look in Hustle and then during college we share that we both had a hustle in college what was your hustle in college and how did you make money uh I I was as a as a student athlete so I went to the University of Maryland um where I was a football player but as a student athlete at the time I walked on uh after my second year I earned a scholarship at Maryland um of course I didn't tell my my mother at the time until after my third year CU I could still get book money um what's it going to know with the pride of it I'm only kidding I told her but it was um uh but but there it was it was it was like I I I L doing it and so when I was you know the only window that you really had around football was between like this thing called winter workouts which is you know after January and then you'd start you'd have to Winter workouts are typically like 5:00 a.m. uh Monday Tuesday or Monday Wednesday Friday so they can sort of keep you you know tabs on you um but there was a window about two weeks around Valentine's Day so I started this thing um Cupid's Valentine rose delivery at the University of Maryland $25 rose delivery uh and this was for you know every guy that didn't want to spend 80 bucks for a dozen flowers um I went out I found a wholesaler that would sell me roses at basically 25 cents a stem um my first year freshman year on campus sold a hundred dozen flowers um had some friend of mine do a drawing of a Calvin and Hobs drawing um with like Calvin you know putting beating Hobs in the head saying why don't you buy me flowers for Valentine's Day um built this thing about you know with um sold 100 dozen the first year my second year 250 dozen my third year um like 425 dozen my my my senior year sold 1186 dozen flowers in a single day had 45 drivers a dozen people delivering the the flowers and everything else and um and it was where I learned a really valuable lesson uh because I also bartended on Wednesday night which we weren't allowed to do but I drive to a place called Bethesda which is away from College Park uh as an athlete I'd work Wednesdays from 12 from 9900 p.m. till 12:30 um you know it's a bartend you made good money uh and was one of the things that helped fund roses but it was that Rose money um that actually and I also would sell t-shirts at like Grateful Dead shows laala palas HF festivals Rolling Stones concerts and things I was the guy in the parking lot that would get the bootleg t-shirts with the misspelled band names on the back and walking around selling for $20 the beginning of the festival $15 $10 whatever you could get the get the shirts for so there was always something and I guess to the entrepreneurs the the lesson from that last um uh sort of soliloquy is you got to practice it uh and you got to love it and you got to find the fun in it too and and that's where I you know brought my friends into the loop and whether it was roses or flowers or you know what what now is my wife who was back then helping me is you know valuable Lessons Learned we also had guys that weren't so bright working for us and when you imagine things like I'm going to do a rose delivery business and the goal was to sell I said 1186 dozen flowers in a day I only remember that because of the 314 dozen flowers that I'd meant to sell 1,500 and watching my opportunity cost die um was really brutal and realizing that you know two days putting flowers together like in this Row House in Georgetown um all the windows down it's you know February in DC at the time uh the windows wide open air conditioning all the way down trying to blow it as like hard as it could get to get cold in there um 1,500 dozen flowers like stacked up in roses and boxes and then all of a sudden like take it to dozen take it to my wife who's a nursing student at Georgetown and saying thanks so much for your help you know here's a dozen flowers for you honey she says oh thank you so sweet kisses me I've been up for 2 days straight opens a dozen like hey Kev just want to let you know there's there's only nine flowers in here like what do you mean there's nine sorry about that let me grab another one wait a second there's 15 flowers in this one and then I'm looking over the guys that were packing flowers like did you guys put 12 in there and they're like excuse me like what I didn't know you were talking about it dozen so anyway make sure you I I never want to deal in live inventory again make sure the people that work with you can count to 12 yeah that's a it's a good good good lesson learned for that one the math Majors but I made 17 grand netted from that which ended be ended up becoming the seed money that effectively I was able to start under arour with plus the credit that I built along the way uh got five credit cards up to $40,000 in cash and so my f financing wasn't um you know a angel capital or it was it was you know it was credit cards it was selling a th000 bucks a point you know if somebody if you give me 10 grand I'll give you 10% of the company like and i' I'd had that offer out there before when you're desperate because cash is so critical in a startup and it's like you know I I don't know if I'll do that and people like all right I'll give you 10 grand all right I'm going to need it I'm going to need it soon they're like all right uh I'll get you check next week no I need it like like now and they're like all right let me write you a check I'm like no you don't understand we got to go to the bank withdraw from your account have it in my account by 4:00 if you want this happen so welcome to you know if you want to be an entrepreneur um get ready to to to run a little bit of a casino roulette put yourself before we dive into Under Armour uh or continue sort of on that path put yourself in their position you're you know approximately 40 how many people are seniors right now yeah so 30 40% of the class are seniors uh some wondering what their job or career path uh is there's some anxiety over that what was going through your mind at 22 years old what was your thought process upon graduating uh University of Maryland and going in world did you have a clear path what did you know about yourself at that point um yeah I I I knew I wanted to to work for myself but you don't have that confidence either and it's it's nice because you guys are out there and you go to a great school so you'll have you know the the big firms will come to you and I don't know how many you know Finance accounting majors and things but I remember watching other kids in the business school um you know going off to you know erston young and and and KPMG and they're getting offers and all of a sudden they're getting these big jobs and um I remember there's this one guy who has a football alumni and he uh uh he was an insurance guy worked for credential there's nothing wrong with insurance but you know it like the one job offer that I had coming out of out of college and I I I'd had the idea for Under Armour and I was working on it because it was really the it was the fall of my senior year so it was the fall of 1995 right came up with the idea or it was spring break of 1994 when I came up with the idea for under aror it was driving back from spring break with three other guys uh in a car for 24 hours from um uh uh Fort Lauderdale Beach um home and it was like I was I'd spent five days with these guys in the spring break was like I can't listen to another word like I can't hear these guys I'm tuning out um and just sort of locked myself in and driving and it was there that I sort of Drew this little sketch and came up with the idea um but but where was I going with that Dave just so where were you where at 22 years old and what did you know about yourself you didn't want to work for somebody else what are there advantages to being young and naive that's a good one yeah 100% so the idea for UnderArmour was there I'll never forget though I got an offer from credential Insurance to um take a job with them and the first interview that I had the guy said do me a favor write down everybody that you know has a net worth you think over over $500,000 and I was like I'm not going to do that and I don't know maybe we'll talk again um but I was kind of like in this interview process and I remember I went home because before cell phones I went home from my dorm room to my my mom's house and uh I remember I go up to her desk and there's this little note on the desk and it was from like you know 10 days before and it said um you know Kevin call Joe so and so from credential and I remember seeing the note and I'm like why didn't she tell me this like what you know what is this my mom comes to home I'm like Mom how did you give me this message why did you not tell me this and my mother is like a self-described she was like a like a tough like a tough old BR like a tough gal like she was like you know I'm the mayor of the town like I'm in charge and she just said oh who are you kidding you're never going to go work for anybody else like she was the one that sort of called me out on it it's like she like don't give me a hard time and it was part of that um I knew I wanted to do what I wanted to do but I didn't know it was going to be under armour I wasn't like this clear image of go build you know performance apparel it was I was like I I might do a rose delivery system or service was one of the things and frankly it was before 1800 roses and would I figured that out I don't know but I'll tell you the mentality I had was it happened to be Sports and that happens to be my passion and my love but if you have the mentality of an entrepreneur it really wouldn't matter what it is that all you're going to do is is it's part of a curse and a burden because you're going to walk into most rooms and you're going to look and focus on unfortunately the 5% of things that are wrong versus the 95% of things that are great or perfect and so you have to find that balance in your head of celebrating the winds or celebrating beauty or being happy about it and not just dissatisfied because the entrepreneur mindset is like how can I make it better what can we do to enhance or or or impact that so but I want to make sure everyone in here knows like there wasn't like this clear image or Vision that I had so don't dissuade yourself if you're if you don't have the the clear picture yet or today yeah very rarely does sort of the lightning strike and the Skies open and you have your your vision it it's a result of working it working it trying to solve you he just talked about seeing things that can be trying to solve a problem he set out to solve a problem why do we wear these cotton t-shirts under our pads that get soaked and heavy get you cold on top of it all those things when you play in cold weather States so he was solving a problem and had no idea that it would be a you know a global you know apparel brand at some point um one more sort of origin story and then we'll sort of come forward into culture um you know this series and we we tend to I don't say romanticize you know a lot more successful entrepreneurs sit here than people that have have failed um it's brutally hard brutally hard and in the beginning um there was a point where you couldn't you didn't have enough money to pay the bills and you had a brilliant idea that you were going to go to Atlantic City and and and win it back so tell us about just the night and the lesson of what you learned at that toll booth um and don't sugarcoat it yeah yeah uh I mean this is when when you're starting like for any entrepreneur and I don't know maybe it's different now because maybe there's more Capital around but when I was doing it literally the the the financing that I used was um my own cash which was 17 grand the $40,000 over 5 credit cards that I built up um that I blew through uh and then I basically went to like friends and family and the whole time like you hear cash is King cash is Queen in any business like I I I I reflect because one of the things that you know happened last week when we made this announcement there was a lot of sort of input or feedback from the street uh which is a you know I'm a Topline guy I just want to you just want to grow and there's concern of like you're going to be focused up on bottom line and earnings versus just growing but like when you're an entrepreneur like I I remember sitting there with um in in business and you see those like blue checks that you get maybe you work for you know do side jobs or something like the long blue checks and they got the the page but maybe it's that's not doesn't exist anymore but I'd sit there every night and just balancing you know my checkbook and playing the float of I wrote you know two checks but I mailed the checks out and they probably haven't received them yet it'll take them a couple days to get in the bank and can I use that bank float over here you're you're constantly just back and forth on that all the time and it is so difficult finding you know keeping up with the capital and it's one thing that is probably the most difficult aspect of of of being able to do for any entrepreneur is like just how do you keep up with the cash how do you keep it straight so you went you were you couldn't didn't have enough money in the account to pay your bills and you decide to go to Atlantic City yeah and and and win the money back how did that go um so I had 700 bucks in the bank I went and pulled the 700 bucks out and I'm like I need three grand um I had $3,000 wor the checks out because in our business it was fabric first um and then it was like a long lead time for fabric uh but you only had so much credit that you had to pay so basically getting the cash up front I'd written $3,000 worth the checks I took out $600 I'm going to go to Atlantic City and win it drive up there lucky and smart enough to fill my car up with gas um walk in take the $600 um lost a little won some back next thing I didn't just win the three grand I won the five grand and then of course I started thinking greedent going what would be great if I had 10 grand went for the 10 grand lost everything like every last nickel and this was like 6 months in Under Armour so the $177,000 was gone this is my last bit of money um I have to get in the car to drive home from from uh Atlantic City back to Washington DC in Georgetown where I started the company and I hadn't contemplated for toll booths and so this is where like pulling up to a toll booth like in case you know this like if you didn't you can't pay your toll the person comes out they take your driver's license they write it down it stops everybody in traffic they're like what's the matter people like you can't even pay your toll so that night I I come home I end up um um make it through the tolls it's like I got five tickets for not being able to pay any of the tolls on the Delaware Memorial Bridge from Atlantic City back to DC um I get home I didn't have a enough money for cash I mean like when you're broke like no change like in your car like no money whatsoever so my mother I said a real strong powerful tough woman the worst cook in the world and I was like I didn't have any place to go so I drove my mother's house for dinner and I'm thinking I'm dead broke these checks are going to balce I'm totally screwed what are we going to do um but I kept my PO Box I was living in De at this place right by my mother's house and I'll never forget um it was 6 months in the first team that I'd ever sold was Georgia Tech and I they'd spent about $7,000 uh that they had with me and I end up um coming home go to my mom's house and I remember her saying because you'll find this is that optimism really does matter um people would ask and say you know how's underarm it's like oh it's doing great so come my mom's like how's everything going I'm like I'm doing great mom everything everything's perfect um and trying to hold it in for myself and then um um I remember going and checking that PO box that night for whatever reason you know you can say God has a plan Serendipity purpose belief letting go whatever aspect of that you'll believe in um and there was that first check from this institution Georgia Tech that was in there for like 7,800 bucks and I'll never forget cuz that day I sat in my car and after I left my mother's house I did have a good cry and sitting there and going you could have done roses I was going to do this crab cake thing decid to do this t-shirt thing and look you're out of money we bust and I did I almost second guessed myself and then I remember when I opened that PO box and saw that check it was like the it was the biggest affirmation I could ask for and say I'll never second guess or question myself again I may I may not win um but I'm not going to I'm not going to quit or not believe in myself and so that moment was probably one of the most important ones cash the check paid everybody off and then all of a sudden I did not go back to Atlantic City after that so I stopped stopped you I learned my lesson it's emotional if you started a business when someone gives you business and writes you a check or invests in your business it's emotional because they're they're believing in you it's just it you talk about affirmation and validation it's it's it really is a powerful thing when someone votes with their pocketbook their wallet and says we believe in you and then making somebody money like being an earner is like um it's one of the biggest highs that I I Can't Describe for you and that's a thing where you know what I do think about where underarm is right now is um Ray Lewis is the voiceover that you hear and he's a big fixture but um he's a a learned experienced you know good person um but he has an expression he says called pissed off for greatness and there's a moment where we may get there in life but we are certainly one of those brands or companies that is pissed off for greatness of of showing them how how great we can be but when you have that when you're when you're making your private Equity investors and you're making them money and um we had some great ones the Fisher family from The Gap was one of our big investors Rosewood Capital the the hotel chains that you've heard of and um it's it's um it is it's it's a high and you want to do it for yourself but you want to do it for your team you know you want to do it for their families you want to do it for the community you want to do it because you do have a chip on your shoulder and you probably do want to show them all and so that'll be part of it as well which is perfectly human um but keep it in check at the same time I might actually start asking students to ask some questions directly so get into them um Elina you got a good question on sponsored athletes and Partnerships yeah go ahead hi Kevin um my question was so Under Armour has a lot of like high-profile athletes Partners obviously second so my question was what do these Partners mean for Under Armour and what values do you look for um when you look out for partners and how do you kind of grapple with you know partners that you wanted and maybe lost to other companies so I'm really interested about hearing about that process the question was about Sports Marketing and how you make the decision for super high-profile athlete like a Steph Curry I mean when we signed Stephan in 200 uh 2012 uh he'd been in the league for 3 years uh 12 or 13 yeah he he'd been in the league for three years um he'd been with Nike um they messed up his reigning um they um left like it was part of the KD pitch was just left over they didn't have his name in there it was a few things that they mistak um but it it wasn't like you know magic that got the athletes and I'll start with some of the cute when you find out like how did you sign or pick Steph Curry um it was the his daughter Riley actually had just been born um and and at the time he'd set up on his he's like boy what should I do and this is some of the science that comes with it we'll take a little luck uh and thank you Riley but he set up three shoe boxes with the shoe on top here was the Adidas here was the Nike and here was the Under Armour and he basically sit on the couch and his daughter I think R was like one or one and a half at the time he said and he's just sort of laughing goes what do you think I should do Riley and she got up and like stumbled over like a little kid picked up like the the Adidas shoe on the left and was like oh threw it over his shoulder picked up the Nike shoe threw it over shoulder grabbed the Underarmor shoe walked back and like here Daddy and say I wish there was a little more size to it but it proved to be you're genius Kevin exactly exactly so don't think too much of it but at the time like we we we we've had the the luxury of having um like you think of some of the high points that we've had as well like 2015 we had all four major sports um MVPs um plus the the the number one ten number one golfer and number two tennis players so Jordan spe in golf Andy Murray in tennis um it was Cam Newton actually in football it was um Bryce Harper in baseball um uh you know so we we had it was like uh we had Steph in basketball um Carrie Price and hockey and it was like this collection that you can't bet for that some of the things when we're making decisions on like what do we do with our athletes or how do we get them um you have to figure out how to play Moneyball because we're a bigger company but under arour frankly is a a company that in our space um we're we're too big to be a little company but we're too little to be a big company and so under aror last year we have spent you know over $550 some million dollar in marketing I don't think it feels like we spent that much money which means we're not probably spending it well enough right now and so how we approach and we can really take that back but you have to think about is it worth going after the investment of like a Stephen Curry who somebody when we signed him in his first contract was a million5 right his second contract was like 11 million you know his latest contract that's been you know released out there too but you you get upwards of 25 $30 million and so you have to decide there was a year that Tiger Woods once played the the Masters Golf Tournament and the bet that they had in Vegas was you could either bet Tiger Woods because his odds were like even odds or you could bet the field so there was 80 golfers and you could bet one guy you bet the other 79 which one would you play with the same thing we think now we're thinking about Caitlyn Clark is that her Market is very different than um you know hundreds of thousands she's in the millions and you're going boy you could nil deals or do other things with this money and we could go sign 50 college basketball players or you could sign one Caitlyn Clark so like what's the the Money Trade there um it's a constant game of Money Ball it's a constant game of of back and forth should the money be in college should you put it in professional did you do you do it on teams we've had Tottenham Hotspur in the eepl before do you sign big players we had a guy Tren Alexander Arnold do you put it on Tom Brady do you lean it on Jordan spe or do you go with you know a youth program so it's it's one of the things frankly which is incredibly real time for us right now and I'm not sure there's a perfect answer but um if I could i' I'd go hire Riley Curry and see if I could just get her to go pick all the athletes for us that the science yes you know I I spoke to um Sean edgert and Marcos D Santos in your Global Marketing Group a few weeks ago cool and they really sort of educated me it was in connection with um my favorite Olympic sport beach volleyball and in deciding which athletes to sign for the company they spoke about story can you tell us why story is important to the overall brand and the individual athletes with whom you partner tell us why story matters so much for Under Armour I mean so the the the four foundations and I want to be careful because I know's been around a long time 28 years and I appreciate you asking the questions about the past and I wish I'd kicked it off this way but the last thing that I want to talk about especially assuming this new chair and today's my seventh day in the role again as CEO is all I want to talk about is is the future um but like some of the things that built Under Armour is I keep these whiteboards in my office as a former athlete um they'd write down they'd say things on them like overpromise and deliver dictate the tempo Walk With a Purpose you know find a way kind of cultural statements or sayings that would would make or be you know what are who we are um at the center of it though always written in red ink my daughter now draws this for me um it has some wisdom that just says yeah that's great all these other things you do athletes you sign Etc in the center it just says don't forget to sell shirts and shoes like at the end of the day that's what we do and so the tenants of like how we accomplish that is probably something that would work for any business and so I use these four things which I always use to defining like what's my job as CEO and it's maintaining you know ideas and competency on four important things product story service and team number one make the best product like at the end of the day if we screw everything else up as long as we have great product um we'll be okay today I don't think we do like I think one of the things you'll see from us is one of the best business advice ever given in business was actually from our industry and it was when a guy named Mark Parker took over at Nike in 2004 or five Steve Jobs was still alive and Parker new jobs because they were in involved in a uh in business business a little bit and he asked he said hey you know Steve I'm taking over this huge company um can you give me some advice and probably only the way like a Steve Jobs could um looked at him in the eye and just said uh why don't you guys stop making so much crappy stuff and frankly like as I'm approaching Under Armor like I'd like to cut what we do in half I'd like to just find the things that we love and so product number one is that but when you make product that's that great number two what's the story for the product right like how are you going to communicate it how do you talk about it because our greatest product should be the way that we convey the story because the world doesn't need another capable parallel footwear manufacturer the world needs a hope the world needs a dream what under armer is supposed to be is like you're supposed to see a product and go yeah like look that's awesome like how do I dream with that um do I have a product that would represent that quick sidebar sorry this is a commercial break it's going to cost you Dave at the Masters in just a few weeks you're going to see product unveiled which is a new Under arour stealth form cap this is for your eyes only don't release this yet or not and this is a this is a product that we have which we think is pretty unique because what makes baseball caps compelling to anybody else in the world it's always the logo that's on the front and for us for the first time we built a hat which is as much about the performance of the Hat itself that actually this thing can crush up into a ball it feels like Under Armour it'll absorb your sweat it's got Under Armour ISO chill UPF 50 plus a mile um and it's a hat that the first time that Jordan spe misses a shot a putt or anything else this is contractual with him at this point he's not going to throw a club what he's going to do is take this hat you just saw me ball up he's going to throw it on the ground and he's going to jump on it as many times as he can and then I'm going to pop it up and then we're going to find out how we can have our announcer say wow that's what Under Armour should be that it looks and feels like a product which is um how much do you guys pay for this by the way just I'm kidding I'm not going to ask that um but it it's like but I don't know if you've seen a but it's a lid which is you know Kevin it's a hat but it's a hat where nobody's ever built a performance out there company called melon doing some neat things right now but our job is going in where we can make the battlefield small because our competition is Nike and it's like you got to compete with these guys it's like man it's really hard to do that um so when we can make the battlefield really small and just go I tell you what um you know it's like you want to play basketball like we we'll go fight with your we're sending Curry who you guys going to send you want to do golf like we'll send you know we'll send speed um you want to fight and compete in uniforms like we're going to outfit you know the Naval Academy you guys outfit Army like we'll have we'll have these moments where we can Spar and fight and battle um and we can pick something like this it really matters product story service service is all the other pieces that go into what you do it's it's showing up on time your supply chain like making sure the product matters right price right time right place all those things um and then fourth and most importantly is the team it's what I'm focused on right now more than anything and speaking about like where a UA is is that we've been through this transition but I I the place where the greatest alignment that our CEO and myself have been is is in building the team that we have at our executive table um we have some badasses a designer a guy named John varvados who's sort of a legend in the industry um we just hired a guy named Yin Sidi who came from uh long tenure at Ai and then he he ran the select business for Puma um then he's the last four years he's actually been doing collabs working with brands of helping to relate with artists and specifically for um actually Rihanna and uh the weekend uh but like uh he's one of the cool kids who like having him at UA to make sure that we can check that box performance Innovation all those pieces um but just a a killer team of the the the COO former coo from The Gap 30 years there understand expert at retail so like I love our team but you have to love your team it's the most important thing your team needs to know that you love them because I think the most important thing for any leader today's world has to be great empathy that you have for understanding what everyone's going through the world's tough it's not easy and um you know I think that that that empathetic leadership is something which is really important so I love the team that we have and uh I can't wait to win for the 177,000 teammates that count and rely on our brand every single day that's killer product by the way that's really it really it it feels like Under Armour it feels like the original Under Armour that was different and going to have people knock it off people are going to say like why didn't we think of that but it really I mean no one's Revisited the the baseball cap in Forever try packing a baseball cap try you know traveling with a baseball P so I can't wait till it comes out and I think it's a 40 bucks 3540 thank you I'd like to go 50 but I'm listening right now so we we'll find but you're in the you're in the ballpark but it is it's meant to be like a squee a squeeze for your head which is just meant to be nice and lovely so anyway we we'll we'll find out how smart we are if it works but if you see speed you can tell your friends yeah yeah I I saw that that's awesome let me tell this Riley Curry story moit where's moit you're gonna have to speak up you had a good question because we're talking of story and Baltimore's always been part of your story you have a question about Baltimore yeah so why how armor and behind and did you hear that yeah I did the question was about um Baltimore is a big part of our story for our company and part of it was you know one of the things that happens when you all find success is you'll also feel this bit of like obligation that we're supposed to give back um that obligation for us I I you know you're thinking because I didn't think especially as a sports brand a a consumer facing sports brand or or any any company um the consumer is not going to care what you say till they know that you care um what's important to you and one thing I always thought was that matters was that that you loved your hometown um I made a very big point about sticking a flag on the ground and doing it in a city like Baltimore which is a complicated place um but it really is defining of us it's this um Underdog grit um sort of blue cal Blue Collar lunch pail work boots and I thought it really fit the DNA of the brand and so those were the things when I moved from DC and moved up to Baltimore I kind of like that about us uh and it gave us this destination one of the things that I did though is part of that making the city important I think it also though led to some of the things that allowed when over our 28- year history thinking about investing in our town you know over indexing on our town making sure that number one we have a responsibility to be fiduciaries to our shareholders but I thought it was playing chess and being demonstrating how much we loved our town by how we invested in it and what I did personally as an entrepreneur I thought I could let and work back and forth with sharing the resources I could do as a as a citizen um to help under arour as a company and some of the things we did it was um you know building the assembling a 260 acre parcel right in the bottom Waterfront as you come up 95 46 million cars a year you know between DC and New York driving up and building this this this development that was going to be our headquarters and the way that doing something other than just selling shirts and shoes convince people that that may be a distraction I look back on that no I didn't spend a minute less doing it but what it might have done for other people to think about being distracted I I I'd like to I'd like to fix that but one of the things we did do is we did just signal and just say Baltimore is going to be our home and we're going to stand for that town and in doing it we've had you know major investment for myself personally but especially from the company um you know the company I mean one of the things we're most proud of is that you know we've got a program called project ramp part where if you want to talk about changing lives in a city like Baltimore graduation rates are about 63% which sits somewhere between embarrassing and criminal um if we can convince a kid to play sports each of their four years in high school those graduation rates go from 63% to 98% and this is validated data that we have over 70,000 kids that we've been running for close to the LA over the last 8 years um where we've had that many kids through our programs in Project Rampart 24 public high schools in Baltimore City Under Armour outfits every varsity team every football team baseball team volleyball team ping pong team gets new Under Armour swag the coaches do as well and it's just kind of that simple that you're watching these kids feel like wow somebody loves me the coaches are like I want to coach on that team and and so we we have a great affection and affinity for our hometown um but I think the reason is it really was always chess now I'm interested in playing a lot more Checkers and being a lot more close to the heart but one thing that will not change is uh we've got a new new headquarter building going up uh 280,000 Square ft um it's it's uh Platinum lead certified as well because ESG is incredibly important to us and our company it's right on the Baltimore Waterfront it's visible off 95 as you drive through it um and it'll be it's part of a campus that we have with several buildings and a field right in the middle uh that a lot of our our local high school teams that play on there and so for the company our team gets to see and watch kids like live it breathe it feel it talk it walk it um all that stuff really matters and so I'm I'm proud of that relationship but make no mistake we are a global brand who happens to be based you know in that town um but we love what we're based fits the brand uh josetta you had a this is an interesting question coming from you from me yeah go ahead I like it um yeah so first of all thank you so much for taking time to be here and before I tell you my question I just want to let you know my dad is a huge of Under Armor head to toe all the time you know this is mildly insulting I'm sure your dad's a super cool guy but the idea I mean in a loving way we're not we're not reject as we're fighting for your guys's affection we're not going to reject your father at all so tell him as a 51-year-old I am I am absolutely first of all he's younger than us then she just said he's really hip too so right okay cool I don't know how old he is so I don't know very you go I'll take that i' you know seen you Mike Tyson a lot everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face great quote given the numerous punches you faced in your journey some of which you reced today um do you have a personal philosophy or something that you fall back on that guides your decision making after taking a hit do you see some sort of a mindset pattern in how you manage these constants yeah yeah I I I believe that you can't um you have to lead from the front um you do that with empathy um you do that with love uh you do that with listening um I like to say that I feel like I've coming back into this role I've learned more in the last 4 and a half years of not being a CEO um in probably the first as much at least as in the first 24 that I I was a CEO um you you have to realize is that um it's hard for people to talk to you it's hard for people to communicate with you and so you have to do an extra good job of listening of making sure that people aren't telling you what you want to hear but you can really break through that noise it's it's hard when you're in a public position it doesn't have to be true it just has to be a story that someone can write um it doesn't mean that there's never a basis there or anything else but it's like we we've we've lived that and we've been through everything from papers coming after you setting up you know um renting apartments in town to find out who they can talk to um government agencies investigation and there's nothing you can do about that you'll never get back you know know six years of of the SEC or doj taking 35 million documents from uh from you to download in all your electronic devices on everything that you've ever had and saying how can we truncate together a few lines and it doesn't mean um you have to be thoughtful and you have to be aware of it but you're kind of going is this Fair like why is this happening to me and are you ready to quit or give up I got to tell you is that I'm I've always lived the um you have to stay in the fight like there's lots of things if I could give any if you ask me for if you press me in an elevator for one piece of advice I would just say resilience I'd say keep your jersey you know and if you weren't resilient and if you did something you had bad behavior or something else like whether it's the the board the government or anybody else you're not able to do it so I get this opportunity and I'm pinching myself right now but I'm also wise enough to not be that you know 32-year-old who took the company public um or the the the 42-year-old who was like understanding we were kind of in this middle of just like greatass path to appreciate respect it protect it fight for it um and never take a second or a day of it for granted and so one thing I'll tell you is that you know you can hear every cliche in the world of like you'll find out how strong you are when you do get punched to the face but whatever it is just get back up I just hang on to your jersey don't let them walk you out the room don't let them get you out the door and I mean that like if you're asking for like advice like if you wanted me to get passionate about advice I'd say look at my kids and say don't you ever ever ever never give up don't let everybody ever anybody else tell you how good you are how smart you are how strong you are how pretty you are handsome none of it matters right it's how you feel and believe in yourself and you got to walk that each and every single day it's a good one that's a good one that's a good one does the mic work or does it not work I'm going to give the mic around all right um students from my class please enroll get First Option yes got it I see you Mr plank my name is Adam Benji I want to say shout out to you I love your energy man I could tell you're a real entrepreneur I feel it thank you no when you took out that hat and you like sold it to everyone in the room I thought it was beautiful I got a shoe I could sell you too and I'm hey I I'll pay anything honestly not lying but yeah I keep going I I love your energy man you got to respect it I want to ask you when you first started and when you're selling accounts did you do the calls yourself how did you sell accounts when you first started and how did you scale to the level you scaled to cuz I have a business myself and my biggest issue is I don't know what the next step is to I want to get bigger I want to make this even bigger but I don't know what to do next so I want to know what do you do yeah I mean look for entrepreneur starting out you're always trying to act bigger than you are for me when I started you know I I used to keep two business cards um I kept a business card it said Kevin plank um president and soever I was dealing with a Fabric Mill or a supplier I'd always like use that business card form him that way they knew the buck stopped here put it there look them in the eye like all that stuff and then whenever I talked to an account I was 23 so I was talking to people like who's this sales rep and they want didn't want to know it was just some entrepreneur in his grandma's basement that was starting the company um so it was much more about um um yeah they cuz they there the same people that asked me for a discount uh Hey so you're the president like I need a better price from you so I used to have a card that would just say sales manager um and that way it's like hey can I get a better price he's like man I'd love to give you a better price I'm sorry the old lady with the bag of money back in DC would never go for it our president you know so like let me keep it you know let's keep this separate between the two of us now I'd have to change voices but I'd answer the phone because it was just me and grandma's basement like you know underarm how can I help you um but yeah you go on every call like there's not a job that you don't do and and believe me is the difference between being just an entrepreneur and and being a a a leader to be a CEO because there's a lot more to being a great CEO than being a great entrepreneur it's probably one of the things I've learned most and it really is empowering and trusting your team um but knowing that you can get them there but I have the benefit as an entrepreneur of having done every job in the company at one point in time which doesn't make you an expert in all of it um but it certainly gives you a passion and understanding and empathy with your team so that's why my focus now is finding and hiring you know the best talent in the world that you know I talked about like Barbados and yine and we have another huge hire that we're going to be announcing really really shortly too so things like that that that matter but yeah unfortunately it's not you're the CEO everybody else does stuff you got to do things because your team also they want to know that you'll bleed you'll bleed with them too I think it matters thank you so much you really pump me up I'd love to grab a beer with you sometime yeah thank you it you know we're laughing but like to be that comfortable in selling in this environment is a big skill if you haven't taken the course on sales mindset I really recommend it I once was in in between undergrad and law school for those three or four months I uh I sold cars at my USC roommate's father's dealership and I was so like oh that's not prestigious enough so when I was interviewing for investment banking positions I took off the the sales job because I wasn't it wasn't you know distinguished enough and the guy looks at me and he goes selling cars is the best experience you've ever had for being an investment banker to be able to like ask somebody for the business to do a product demo in front of somebody like that takes something you got to get comfortable asking people for the business there's my sermon thank you so much for being here I am also working to build a team and so I'm really interested who is your first hire and what is the single most important thing you look for in in in a new employee um my first hire was my wife cuz she'd do it for free uh so it wasn't it was more of a partnership let's say um uh but it it was convincing people you know to join the team so when I started it it it's funny when when some of the of the things the press that we've had at UA has been oh you know it's I was a football player so it's a bunch of athletes there you know that's you know sort of dragging Knuckles and looking to build this and you're going like look my my my environment was the athletes that I knew like that was my world and that was when I talked to student athletes in other schools I'm like look I was the same age you were and make no mistake look left and look right because and the same thing that you guys can have now is is the the friend of your left and right is very well going to be the executive who's FASTT tracking a president at Disney or you know moving to to JP Morgan or moving up and you watch sort of these networks grow but the reason Under Armor started um was because a a great product but it was as much about the team that I knew because I said to Dave my high in my high school team we we had a pretty good a pretty good team um I had 11 guys go sign division one in scholarships for my high school team uh a prep school that I went to was like another year of high school I didn't get a scholarship so I went there to get another look we had a really special class we had 23 guys from my high school team or from my my prep school team who ended up signing division one scholarships 13 of them ended up getting drafted to the NFL four of them were first round draft picks and one guy won the Heisman Trophy a dude named Eddie George so like coming out and then I went to Maryland there was like 20 25 guys playing the NFL at any given time so the network that I realized I had that I leveraged and utilized was like who are these partners and players when I was trying like my the first thing as an entrepreneur I was trying to convince like my friends to come work like who wanted to be my startup partner and then you're dealing with this Dynamic of well why should I work for you why aren't you working for me like well I don't know I got the idea of the T-shirt what you what do you have like I got 17 grand what are you bringing to the party so well I'll get 5% of the you know so there's like all these dynamics that happened I'm always like there weren't like the 10 people from Harvard lining up at Grandma's basement in Georgetown going like man I really want to work here it was like you have to use what you can use so I don't think there's any skill to it but and and I wouldn't sit here and profess you know find loyal find this like find hungry find passion you know find somebody that's not doing it because they want to check a box and say I was a I was a resume um entrepreneur for a minute but like find that belief but my first partner you know he's still one of my dear friends that I had today and and there's another one of my partners that's that's here as well who who who live with me but he had a portion of the company and this other partner left and it sort of like I can only imagine what that felt for what that felt for him um but it was it was he didn't believe you know um and then I have another one my partners Billy mcder who's sitting right there who was one of my friends from Fork Union the prep school that I mentioned um who was one of my you know first Partners at UA as well who came after he did a stretch in the military and a few other things but it was you you'll find the right ones I I give a little bit of caution like family friends those things um but there's something you'll have of like I just want somebody I can look in the eye and I can really trust like trust is something that's built you know I the Whiteboard statements I have something that says you know trust is something that's built in drops and it's lost in buckets and so like you'll have that with relationships you'll have that with your business and anything else that you do but you'll find your way you know when you have the right ones thank you for the question questions there's going to be a lot of them from class right yes I recognize you so you said about like not hiring your family and your friends and I know you also said that you hired your wife and she was the first person you hired how do you I like come from two family businesses and how have you gone about working with family and friends and what have like some of the challenges been with that uh it's really complicated again I got four older brothers um that you know I've all been around and some version have funded this company as well and some of those conversations of give me you know 10 grand for 10% but like you got to have it now like we got to drive to the bank and do that um that doesn't breed Great relationships with with brothers and things so I think you just have to be you have to be cautious with it you're going to be comfortable working with friends especially now and I I wouldn't discount either you know as I mentioned my first businesses were shoveling snow mowing lawns lemonade stands t-shirt businesses crab cake businesses Rose businesses and other things you have to practice it and so I I I wouldn't have a hard and fast rule of no friends no family or anything else because but I wouldn't look and say I'm just looking for somebody to be loyal to me like you have to have an exchange and you have to understand what they're looking for too um ego will come into it eventually I hate 50/50 deals uh somebody has to be able to call snow days meaning like come to work or don't come to work or what are we doing you can't have everything be a you know be a break we were we were in the movie Any Given Sunday and and 1999 there was something called Y2K which is the world thought that all the computers when they flipped over in year 2000 was going to like put the world out of business and um we'd been in this lucky enough to be in this movie called Any Given Sunday it was an Oliver Stone movie it had you know 15 big big stars that were in it as well and um it we wanted to advertise it because we knew we we hadn't seen the movie but we knew we're going to have great prominence in it um and we made this decision to spend $25,000 on an ad in ESP in the magazine at the time there were 16 people or 17 people in the company I held a company meeting we all sat around a conference table and I said Hey listen uh I want to run this ad at the time companies were like blowing up and so that the the ESPN the magazine mandated that we pay them upfront I said we need to get 25 Grand together um who in here doesn't want to take a paycheck and you know give me you know take a couple weeks off I'll give you equity in the company what does equity mean like all these things were coming up and um they decided you know we we most people were like I I don't vote we should do this I'm like we're not really voting right now like I think we need more equipment we need to buy more fabric I'm like I think we should we should bet on this and at the time um the year before we'd done uh $400,000 in revenue and so finishing this year um we were on our way to or we done a million we done a million three in 1990 in the year 1999 we ran this ad December 24th the ad came out the movie was like a Smash Hit the ad showed that it wasn't just a fictional character in the movie it was actually a logo and for a company that had done a million3 in total revenue in the next two weeks I did $800,000 in sales just from running that ad that people could put that connection of Under Armour is a real company we want to buy it so forget private equity and forget the friends I guess the advice I'll give and hopefully ending or rounding the story out I need private Equity I need an angel investor I need this one like if you can do it go sell the inventory that you have like it's not raising more money or or asking for more Capital uh because it doesn't come with a board seat it doesn't get a vote and so like you're asking me what do I want to do to raise money like I I want to go sell shirts shoes and I'm going to add hats to that Center on the building on in in my office too so thank you we also have a family business class taught by Professor napley I've done business with and without family with business it's got as he said it's got to be clear that someone is the boss it's their business um and then you serve that person and the advantage is that family generally doesn't quit on you yeah they don't quit when it gets hard questions all right hey welcome back two classes sorry U mow Mr playing thank you for coming in and uh speaking with us like many others I also run a business/ side hustle and I enjoy and I love what I do but I have thoughts where I feel like I'm not doing enough right now and others around me are excelling going down a traditional path you join clubs score internships go to recruiting events and eventually secure jobs before graduation I personally don't think I want to go down that path and instead want to continue being an entrepreneur but I feel like I'm setting up myself for failure by going off the traditional path what advice can you give to someone who's a student pursuing a dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur and what should I be doing now to make that happen or what would you do if you were back in college with the knowledge you know yeah I I wouldn't say you have to be hard and fast um I I'd give you the opportunity to say you can do both you know if if you're willing to not like I'm not a big sleeper I never have been like a couple hours um and it's because you know at at the time too you you want to put as much time into the business as possible because it would just it would take that but you can get another job I mean for me my trade was at the time I had a job offer from credential for 45 Grand which is like you know to a college kid that was a lot of money and I'm thinking well that's safe but my mother was the one too like you're not going to do that and because I know you want to run your own run your own ship I did continue Bartending for a period of time like because I could make a lot of money in a short period of time but at the end of the day every hour I spent away from the business was like the business was more valuable than that but I think that you can start and and and go work a 9 to-5 or whatever those hours are uh and be able to find out if your idea can make money because the one thing before you start is what any entrepreneur should do is find out if someone is willing to take hard cold hard cash out of their pocket off their venmo and exchange it for whatever good or service that you have and you have to have that confidence or that that certainty that um they're willing to do that and that your idea will make it but there is definitely there's a there's a moment of inflection where your confidence and belief in yourself will get tested or pushed that you're going to have to let go you know you're going to have to take that leap and go I'm willing to do it and for myself at 23 you know I was going to lose the 40 Grand in credit cards maybe some friends and family money but it wasn't you know it was going to be a couple hundred grand and I figured a worst case scenario I could always go sell cars um you know I think I'd be pretty good at doing that I guess um and so I can recover and that's the nice thing about doing it young because as you do get older you know you get you get family you have a spouse you have kids you have obligations you have a car payment house payments all those things and and at the time uh um I do encourage entrepreneurs is that if you can get that kind of conviction um get out of the attic get out of the basement you know take the chance and go for it but make sure that you you you test it by finding out can this thing make money as best that you can you know thank you so much great question by the way thanks thanks for writing that out pass it to the person behind you good job you killed that uh hi nice to meet you my name is manashi thanks for coming again um great question Lloyd um my he kind of spark my question I grew up in an entrepreneurial household and I thought I wasn't going to go that path at all started by volunteering and then I decided I didn't like that so I went to home school so I could start working at like when not it wasn't legal for me to work um and now I just figured out I do things differently and that's okay trying to be okay with it every day it's honestly sometimes I have to convince myself and carry myself through it um I'm wondering when you were first starting your company any projects and things where did you find structure and ground ing in terms of professionalism or just holding yourself together where did you get your structure in grounding yeah thank you that's an excellent question too uh you know as I said my father passed away when I was 19 um you know I had older brothers but I never I never had that um that mentor and I know a lot of you can think and I I get emails from entrepreneurs all the time you know Mr plank would you be my mentor or could we talk and you always want to do that but there's no real answer I got to be honest with you like if we were in the elevator what what advice would I give you um I I'd say to be honest I'd say exactly what I just said for that question which is find out if your product can sell right and if you can do it like then stick with it and commit to it and like believe in it um resilience is incredibly important but I don't know if I can beg you or or convince you that you should go do this with a um I don't I don't think there's one person that I can send you to that you need that like I I'd love you to have it um but it's kind of like life it's it's not as realistic as the one con consistent thing that you can count on is yourself and so I'd probably point you there of going if you've got that belief like you know you'll reach out and you'll have mentors and I had you know one of mine was uh um it was a friend of mine's father who was a dentist and I remember I asked them and brought them the idea of under this is why I'm like be careful as entrepreneurs I remember I took him the idea and I'm like okay so here's the gig it's this tight t-shirt that athletes wear under their shirt or their uniforms and it's stretchy and tight it's in athletics and I remember he's like what are you you're competing with like Nike and Adidas and those guys and I was like I was like yeah and I was so excited like share with him my idea and I remember he looks at me he just goes are you crazy you're going to get killed those guys you'll never be able to do that and I remember thinking like how crushing that was you know crushing that he would say that kind of so flip but that I gave him so much power to be able to make me feel down and depressed about it because it was like and it went very much from like this is my most trusted person like aren't you proud of me and happy for me and excited for me and it went from that to like sort of looking at this guy and then my opinion of him was like you go himself like you know like we're going to go do this anyway like we'll find our way to do it and so that's why I wish you could have that but if not um you got you and we got this you know Sarah Blakeley of Spanx talked about like ideas in their infancy are really fragile and you have to be very careful who you share them with um you know a dentist is probably one of the most risk averse professions there is yeah and Paul orala said this he says when people tell you you can't do it what they're saying is they can't do it yeah and so you got to be really careful when it's early now yes you test your product he wasn't testing his product he was looking for feedback so be very careful with your ideas because they're they're fragile that's a great point then great Point uh thank you for coming my name is Andy and I have a kind of a question about mentality and our class you know we're moving through how to deal with failure as far as picking the right athletes how do you deal with that I don't know me personally I get anxiety when I have to kind of be more risky and put my money you know where my mouth is how you deal with that kind of mindset of staying calm cool and collected even through riskier situations yeah I I don't think there's a formula for it um I I I I appreciate the question but there's there's no way to solve is that you have to Life's about a quid pro quo right you can lay in your bed all day and you know exactly what the temperature will be and how you feel and you can sleep or you can walk outside and it might rain and it might snow or it might do you know 10 other things that'll happen but I think you have to find a way to at least give yourself some guard rails you know that might be the easiest way to do it of you know what is your risk tolerance what are you willing to do um and some things where it's okay you don't you don't have to because I really do enjoy it you know like I I really do enjoy the the juice like I love the competition and the same reason that I walked on at a place like Maryland instead of going to a division 3 school that was recruiting me is because I wanted to wake up in the first week of March or of August and say our team's undefeated just like every other team in the country no matter where we are like we could win the national championship the likelihood of us doing that was not that great but I didn't want to go play in a stadium with a thousand people maybe watching division 3 football I wanted to go into Happy Valley with 104,000 people dressed in white at Penn State you know and have them you know rooting against you and throwing bottle at you like I wanted to play in the big game on the big stage and so that's not for everybody and it's not to say one is better than the other but it's okay like my one of my college roommates was a um he one went and played Scott milanovich went and played in the NFL another one of my college roommates um got a job with Pepsi and he was driving the truck for Pepsi and I'll never forget like the lessons he gave me and I remember he was like this guy Russ he's from Pennsylvania and he was a super risk averse dude and I was like I was like Russ man like you know you could be my partner here you know we could do this together because his mom made this chocolate from like from um it was like this homemade recipe and their whole basement would get taken over so he'd bring the chocolate down and I'd like steal his chocolate sometimes at night DJ can attest to that uh he'd get mad you're stealing the chocolate but he'd be selling the chocolate he was an entrepreneur as well but he wanted to go work for Pepsi and like one of the things that lessons that he taught me as well because I'm like what Russ can you at least just answer the phone because at that time I started under around May we're still living together um for a couple weeks like can you just answer the phone like underarm may I help you and he's like I'm not answering the phone that way so it was like one of those deals like do you want to come work with me like we can be we can build this together he's like I got a job with Pepsi why would I do that but at Pepsi they make you drive the truck and you have to deliver like free delay in all the convenience stores for a period of time but I'll never forget one thing you said to me and it's it's it's with it or not but it was um when I think about like what's our opportunity what's under Armor's opportunity is that um I'm going to sit here and tell you that I believe in my heart of hearts that under armer is going to be the the the number one athletic brand in the world whether that means Revenue whether that means just your affection whether that means Innovation product or anything else but like I'm going to end then I want to show you something of the way that we think about Innovation and being disruptive um but it was the the uh Fredo guy he L asked his boss he said tell me he said what's the biggest concern that we should have you know as Pepsi or Fredo or what we're doing he's like the number one concern you can have and this is what I say about Brands this is what I say about our industry because you guys can look at me and go you can never compete with Nike how could you ever do that the same way that we can scoff or laugh at an or Hoka or any one of these brands of Vari or somebody else I don't take any body lightly anymore I like I believe in it but uh his boss said to him the biggest risk we have is that tomorrow morning everybody everybody in the in the world could wake up and decide not to eat a Dorito and they'd be perfectly fine and it was something that always stuck with me everybody could wake up tomorrow and decide not to wear a Nike or wear this Brand X or brand y they could decide not to wear us and we've seen that too but like if you believe in it and you fight for it and like there's real and heart and soul there you know you've you got a real chance so find RIS risk what you're comfortable with don't make yourself because some people like I don't throw up when I take risk uh and that's something which is why I need a great Finance partner and other people to make as a public company you've got to be prudent but I'm also very different at 51 than I was at 23 I mean do you see that you know Steve Jobs famously said you can't line up the the dots looking forward you can always look back backwards pissed off for greatness is sort of his unofficial Mantra he undersized walk on special teams I don't know if anyone knows anything about football but the special teams are the craziest people on the team and he was the captain of the Special Teams so he's got this chip and it's got this motor that he's had since he's a kid it doesn't you see that in entrepreneurs all the time um thank you first of all I want I want to ask the students actually for some feedback in a second but I want to I want to sort of talk about the Trojan family for a second we met what was it three years ago I guess the former coach Klay hton they were visiting uh with the with the football team and Clay introduced me to you and um got to meet James before he was even here and just sort of fast forwarding three years you're definitely part of the Trojan family now he gave the commencement address for The Graduate School business last year James are you a sophomore junor sophomore right don't make it go three years fast sophomore IV young come on up for a second we're going to come on up let's welcome James your classmate all right James right here right here so what is it what does it mean to have you know your boy at USC which was his number one school and for you to be actively involved and what do it like to have your dad come and speak pretty awesome go ahead here let me give you this turn in off go ahead um it's really cool I get to see him every once in a while it's it's great being with but before I talk to James can I just acknowledge um my wife DJ uh my 17-year-old daughter Katherine and then uh my my best friend Billy Mc is one of those Founders at underarmor that I talk about who now lives over in Hong Kong with his beautiful family too so if I could just acknowledge them for a second thank you very much but yeah I'm so sorry TR TR Trojan Trojan family do you feel it yet is it real or is it just the talks about yeah definitely I thought it was total BS when I was here I really thought it was like a marketing thing now every part of my life so it's real and as he said look to your left look to your right those are people that are going to be in your lives for a long time but I I had two things that affected me about UFC when we came here and when when James was walking around looking at different schools and it was one of the things that somebody said is that the best thing about USC is that uh and I reflected this in that that commencement speech he said we just have the best Spirit you know it's like it's not but it's the it's the Athletics but it's the it's it's the academics it's the commitment it's the you know seeing people out in the crowd and about but it really is it's joining a family in something that is um you know super very cool and and um we love being a part of it it's an extension and so now that we have our we're actually taking our daughter who's going around looking at schools and I asked her where she wants to go to school she started I want to go to school to California and it was like so she wants to be out west and not be home but uh so we're going to go look at schools for the next couple days as well be fun you will show you this school and it'll be a hard decision for you even know your brother's here yeah I want to finish by the way speaking of Trojan family at the beginning of the class here but Jonathan hbur not only said hello and thank you oh cool and he said you guys had a hell of a run at under arm we're a big part of the story so it's all home I want you this a Master Class is sort of starting a a global brand I want you to think about a lesson or piece of advice or bit of wisdom there's been a lot today I saw you taking less uh taking notes and I want you to say what are you going to remember 5 years from now kin what do you remember 5 years from now hands up who's got something they want to share oh look at this I'm going to I'm this ready focus on the 5% that's wrong cons the consumer is not going to care what you say until they know that you care over promise and deliver optimism matters we have to leave through empathy love and listening the most important thing for leaders in today's world is empathy you're not born as an entrepreneur you have to practice it don't let anyone else tell you how good you are the most important thing is products service story and theme empathetic leadership is key knowing how you feel and believing in yourself matter all you can do is be your best seller when you're low on cash don't go to Atlantic City Che right coming go ahead I want to play in the big game on the big stage there you go coming around all right here we go let's go you're not Bo an entrepreneur you have to practice it when people say you can't do it they mean they can't do it hire people that know how to count I am not a big sleeper at the end of the day don't forget to sell shirts and shoes good the biggest risk is that no one will e Dorito tomorrow always start with your team first bet on yourself come on I'll come up I'll come up this is good uh keep your drink optimism really does matter life does keep moving forward and just have the early hustle mentality let's thank Kevin Plank and family nice all right come up say hello meet Kevin we're gonna get him out of here can I finish with one last video one last one last video If you guys if you guys will give me one second let me the future of the future of it yeah yeah do you have do you have that one or see figure that one out uh if if I could tee this up while these guys get it if you got a chance to stay for it I think it's kind of cool but every brand needs a vision and so there's it's there's a video that we made years ago but I think it still articulates to me like what the reason for Under Armor is supposed to be is it say product story service team of course um but one thing we do care about and like what I think about is that um every company should be terrified of what would happen if you were the watch industry what happened in the watch industry 3 four five years ago is all of a sudden apple and and decided to invade and when they did that they said we're going to take watches and we're going to go ahead and make them uh effectively obsolete by inventing the eyewatch so what we do is keeping a little bit of healthy paranoia that comes with us uh which means what if apple or Tesla started making shirts and shoes that would be a pretty terrible thing for most people unless you're building your company to think like apple or Tesla and more importantly if they made a shirt or a shoe what would it do and so we want to beat them to it and so I think in our industry we still make a shirt and a shoe frankly the same way we did 100 years ago we need smarter people so what I'm building for you what I want to build for UA is why do we do things when you think about um something as important as ESG you walked in here the air conditioning's on and we're air conditioning this room we're not just air conditioning the bodies that are here but we're air conditioning the upper leftand corner upper right hand corner of this room too why why isn't anybody thinking about what if we had products that could actually you know maybe cool or heat the microclimate that exists between my per or skin so the vision we have of like what's the is the vision of what under armer is supposed to be we made this as an articulation for our team which is something I think is pretty powerful compelling so I'd like to show you what we think future girl is and what someday the future of apparel [Music] our job is to make you better to make all athletes [Music] better to inspire you to empower [Music] you and to connect you to the world's greatest design and [Music] Innovation all you must provide is the will to make it [Music] [Applause] [Music] happen than yeah
